Between them, Erroll Williams and Claude Mauberret have 36 years of experience in the soon-to-be-obsolete position of district assessor. Two-thirds of voters in the Feb. 6 primary chose Williams or Mauberret, with Janis Lemle, heir to the "I Quit" reform ticket, finishing a close third behind Mauberret.

With a perfect storm of distractions -- Mardi Gras parades, a mayoral race and the New Orleans Saints' historic Super Bowl appearance -- New Orleanians may have been more inclined than usual to go with a known quantity.

The results echo those of 2006, when voters overwhelmingly supported a referendum ending the seven-assessor system but also re-elected six of the seven sitting assessors. That raises a question: How badly do New Orleanians really want to change a system whose dysfunction is well-documented?

"It just came down to name recognition. I thought name recognition would work in the opposite direction, but it didn't," said University of New Orleans political scientist Ed Chervenak.

Williams parlayed a natural geographic advantage and strong support among black voters into a first-place finish. His 3rd District is by far the city's largest, with three times as many voters casting ballots there than in Mauberret's 2nd District.

Much more than the mayor's race, the assessor primary broke along racial lines. According to an analysis by Chervenak, Williams, who is black, got 77 percent of the black vote and 5 percent of the white vote. Mauberret, who is white, got 44 percent of the white vote and 6 percent of the black vote.

Mitch Landrieu's decisive victory for mayor leaves only two City Council runoffs on the ballot next month with the assessor's race. Turnout will likely be far lower in the runoff.

Another factor will be the losing candidates. Lemle, the chief deputy in 6th District Assessor Nancy Marshall's office, seems unlikely to throw her weight behind Mauberret, considering her outrage at mailers highlighting her campaign manager's past as an aide to disgraced former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson.

Lemle said the attacks -- only one of which was signed by the Mauberret campaign -- made the difference. "I think we would have won (second) if Claude Mauberret and his group had not put out the flier with all the untruths and blatant lies," Lemle said. "It was just very hard to get the truth out there so close before the election."

Andrew Gressett, a real estate broker and the only Republican in the race, got 6 percent of the vote despite a low-profile campaign. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Even if Lemle endorses Williams, the racial patterns evident in the primary suggest some Lemle supporters will gravitate toward Mauberret, according to Chervenak. Lemle, who is black, got 39 percent of the white vote and 12 percent of the black vote, his analysis shows.

"Mauberret will probably pick up most of Lemle's support in the white community," Chervenak predicted.

"The white community Uptown voted for Lemle," Rigamer said. "If any of the Lemle vote goes to Williams, he has a huge advantage."

Lemle drew some support from the remnants of the "I Quit" movement that elected Marshall in 2006, winning most precincts in the 6th District. But her margin there -- 45 percent of the vote to Mauberret's 28 percent and Williams' 19 percent -- was not enough to overcome the stronger showings of the other candidates in their home districts.

Mauberret got 60 percent of the vote in the 2nd District, which includes the French Quarter, Treme and parts of Mid-City and Lakeview. Lemle finished second with 22 percent, and Williams got 12 percent.

In the sprawling 3rd District, which includes the 7th, 8th and 9th Wards, Williams got nearly 70 percent of the vote.

Williams and Mauberret have been colleagues since 1994. In the primary, the two mostly refrained from attacking each other, save for an ad in which Williams accused Mauberret of "inheriting" the office that his father and grandfather also held. The primary may be a different story. Both candidates say they need to raise more money, and Williams said he will be "much more aggressive now."

"It's a whole new election, a whole new ballgame," Mauberret said. "We're going to do some things differently, but the slate's swept clean. We feel very confident."